This article is about the basketball player and politician. For the keyboardist for Underoath, see Christopher Dudley.

Christen Guilford Dudley (born February 22, 1965) is a retired American basketball player, who spent 16 years playing for different teams in the NBA. The center was known primarily for his defensive skill as a rebounder and shot blocker.

NBA career

Dudley began playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 1987–88 NBA season. During his rookie season, he played in 55 of 82 games, averaging three points per game. During the 1989-1990 season, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets. He played three years with the Nets, including the 1990–91 season, in which he enjoyed his best scoring average: 7.1 points per game in 61 contests. In the 1991-1992 season, he was available for all 82 games, one of only two such years in his career. In the 1992-1993 season, he and teammates Derrick Coleman and Drazen Petrovic helped the Nets to their second playoff spot in two years. The summer after that season, Petrovic died in a car accident in Germany, and Dudley went to the Portland Trail Blazers. During his first season and a half as a Trail Blazer, he played with Clyde Drexler, and later, with Damon Stoudamire.

An injury kept Dudley out of all but six games during his first season in Portland. Drexler was shipped to the Houston Rockets in the middle of the next season. Still, Dudley and the Blazers made it to the playoffs. After playing 161 games for the Blazers between 1995 and 1997, Dudley went to the New York Knicks, where he backed up Patrick Ewing for three seasons.

In 1999, he reached the NBA Finals for the only time in his career, but the Knicks were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs, four games to one. Later that year, he grabbed his 5,000th NBA rebound during a game between the Knicks and the Detroit Pistons.

After his stint with the Knicks, Dudley went on to play with the Phoenix Suns, participating in 53 games in the 2000–01 season. He returned to the Trail Blazers in 2002, and retired after playing three games during the 2002–03 season.

In a career total of 886 NBA games, Dudley scored 3473 points (3.9 points per game), 375 assists (0.4 assists per game), 1027 blocked shots (1.2 blocks per game) and 5457 rebounds (6.2 rebounds per game). He was the recipient of the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1996,[2] and USA Today's Most Caring Athlete Award in 1997.[3]

After retirement

In 1998, he opened the Chris Dudley Foundation, an Oregon-based group intended to improve the lives of diabetic children. He received an NBA award as well as other community awards for founding the organization. From 2005 to 2007, he was a volunteer assistant coach for the Lake Oswego High School boys' basketball team, where he mentored UCLA-bound star Kevin Love.[5]

In early 2006, Dudley became vice president of M Financial Wealth Management.[6] Since October 2008, he has been a partner with Filigree Advisors.[7]

Campaign for Oregon governor

On October 11, 2009, The Oregonian reported that Dudley, a Lake Oswego resident, was considering entering the Republican primary for Oregon Governor in 2010.[8] In November he formed a campaign committee, and by early December 2009 had raised over $340,000.[9] Dudley formally announced his entry into the race on December 16.[1][10] On March 6, 2010, The Oregonian reported Dudley had raised over $1 million, aided by a $50,000 donation from Nike co-founder Phil Knight.[11]